The online casino industry has grown exponentially over the last few years, and estimations have its global worth exceeding £100 billion by 2026. The sheer size of the industry means that there’s plenty of demand, which breeds supply. Therefore, there are countless online casinos to choose from and it can be overwhelming, especially when not all online casinos are trustworthy. With this in mind, we’ve gathered together a series of useful criteria that make a good online casino.
Game Selection
People use online casinos to unwind and enjoy their favourite games, whether that be slots or traditional live game rooms. Therefore, a good online casino needs to have a rich assortment of games, which typically include poker, various slots, bingo, and much more. If a game only caters to one genre of casino game, they’re isolating a large chunk of casino game players, which is bad for business. Typically, you can explore an online casino’s game catalogue before making an account for financial commitments.
Rewards and Bonuses
Playing the games is half the fun when it comes to online casinos, and the other side of the coin comes from the rewards and bonuses. Therefore, if you’re visiting a good site, you will receive countless benefits including:
- Welcome bonuses
- Referral bonuses
- Loyalty points
- VIP memberships
- Progressive jackpots
Learning about a site’s full list of bonuses isn’t always easy. Therefore, you can utilise a third-party review site for objective insights. Our favourite website is onlinecasinos.co.uk, which puts in the hard work to review and verify a wealthy catalogue of online casinos.
Reputation
A quality casino will have a strong reputation, which can be assessed by reading customer reviews and taking a look on social media. If you have friends that enjoy online casinos, you can speak to them and find out what their experiences were like. Customer reviews offer first-hand accounts of the casino experience, which may not be clear from the website. For example, an online casino may boast payment times of 1-2 days, when in reality it takes nearer to 10.
There’s no denying that customer reviews are a great way to verify reputation. However, you should keep in mind that they are only opinions, and people tend to embellish the facts when writing online. Further, reviews can be faked to give the illusion of a reputable website, which is why Yelp discourages businesses from asking for reviews.
Security
Online casinos involve the transfer of large amounts of money, which makes them an appealing target for cybercriminals. Therefore, you need to choose a casino with adequate protection including SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layers. You can easily spot an authentic certification by looking for the padlock in the address bar. However, you need to be vigilant once inside the site, and keep an eye out for other conspicuous signals, which can include:
- Unlicensed. All online casinos need to be licenced to operate legally, so check for this information before signing up or spending money.
- Web form contacting. The majority of fake casinos attempt to hide the owner’s identity, which is done by using web forms as a way of getting in touch. Whereas, if you take a look at legitimate casino sites, you will see transparent contact details and owner information.
- Limited testing. A quality casino will be fair, which means they put games through rigorous test procedures. Therefore, you should look for certifications on the home page – popular testers are iGaming Labs, eCOGRA, and Technical Systems Testing.
- Deposit options. Online casinos will typically provide a handful of depositing options. If you’re in the UK, look for PayPal because they have strict protocols on who they partner with.
Customer Service
The nature of online services typically means there’s plenty of space for issues, which is why a quality online casino will have outstanding customer service. The best level of service will be available 24/7 and have multi-channel communication platforms including telephone, email, social media, and web chat. You can easily find out about a website’s contact methods by taking a look at the dedicated page, which is usually available without the need to sign in. Further, you can verify customer service claims by reading reviews.
Revenue
Many people overlook casino revenue when searching for quality, but it’s an important part of the puzzle. If an online casino has revenue that’s less than its largest win promise, will it have the cash to pay for it? Not likely.
Smaller casinos need to attract high rollers, which means not putting limitations on slot games. In some cases, a slot game can pay back 10,000x the bet, which could equate to £1m in winnings; this type of win would bankrupt the business if they had less money in the bank. Therefore, to mitigate the risk, they impose withdrawal limits, meaning you could spend years withdrawing your cash.
User Experience
Online casinos are designed to be fun. Therefore, you don’t expect to fight with the user interface or spend an eternity waiting for pages to load. Typically, the larger and more reputable the casino is, the smoother the experience will be. Although the adage tells you not to judge a book by its cover, we recommend ignoring this because if it looks terrible, it probably is.
Platforms
We live in a world where the majority of people own a smartphone and use them for most things. Therefore, a good casino will offer mobile functionality, whether that be through an app or web based. If an online casino doesn’t support mobile, it’s safe to guess that the business leaders don’t have a clue about how to navigate the 2022 landscape.
Conclusion
Playing at online casinos makes enjoying your favourite games easier than ever before, but it’s important to make sure you have a positive experience; understanding the qualities of good online casinos will help with this. Verifying trust in an online casino will call for taking into account all of the information discussed above; however, the most important parts are reputation, game library, and security.
